


Flowers

by mrs_berry



Series: Love² Fluff²⁰²⁰ (ML Love Square Fluff Week 2020) [3]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Cheesy, F/M, Flowers, Fluff, Love Square Fluff Week, Love Square Fluff Week 2020, LoveSquareFluffWeek, Marichat, Marichat | Adrien Agreste as Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Miraculous Ladybug Love Square, Miraculous Ladybug Love Square Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-08
Updated: 2020-02-08
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:07:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22618354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrs_berry/pseuds/mrs_berry
Summary: Adrien needs help growing a plant for a class assignment. He enlists a certain someone with a green thumb for help.(This work was written for the ML Love Square Fluff Week 2020 prompt: Flowers.)
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: Love² Fluff²⁰²⁰ (ML Love Square Fluff Week 2020) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1626643
Comments: 19
Kudos: 217





	Flowers

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I know as little about plants as Adrien does in this fic. Any information in here was found from Google, so I apologize to plant lovers if there are any inaccuracies.
> 
> Also, this is my first time writing Marichat where neither knows the other's identity. I hope I managed to do this wonderful pairing justice. And I apologize in advance for the cheesiness towards the end!
> 
> Oh and thank you to all the wonderful comments! I will reply to everyone's comments when I have more time, but I wanted to quickly mention I applied to the ML Writer Zine thanks to your encouragement!! I submitted Protect, Seat Buddies, and Phone Call History as my samples. Not sure I will be chosen but it never hurts to try! 
> 
> Anyway, without further ado, please enjoy!

Plants were clearly not Adrien's forte.

A few weeks ago, Mme Mendeleiev had given her class a take-home assignment. Students were expected to grow their own plant of choice (within realistic parameters) by the end of the semester. The time frame gave students more than enough time to grow a plant, even if the first attempt or two were unsuccessful.

Sufficed to say, Adrien had come to the depressing realization that his first attempt was a total and utter failure.

Adrien had been hoping to grow some beautiful red roses and planted many seedlings as he had read only about a third of rose seedlings would sprout.

Unfortunately, Adrien's rose seedlings hadn't even emerged from the soil, despite having watered them religiously. Obviously he was doing something wrong, but he was at a loss. This was out of his element.

Adrien had considered trying again without help, because maybe the first time was just a fluke. But after hearing the girls behind him in Mme Bustier's class talking about how Marinette's sunflowers were sprouting, he suddenly had the brilliant idea to ask her.

Marinette grew flowers and other plants on her balcony, so of course this assignment was a cinch for her. He wondered why he hadn't thought to ask her earlier.

As the day went by, Adrien never found the chance to ask her.

He then decided it was a blessing in disguise. Marinette might ask him why he was growing roses and he didn't think it would be wise to say he wanted to give them to Ladybug. He also didn't want to lie to Marinette, because he knew she hated liars.

So, he came up with the brilliant plan of asking her as his alter ego.

* * *

That night, Chat dropped down on Marinette's balcony. He made sure to do so noisily in order to alert her to his presence.

As he had hoped, Marinette opened the hatch about half a minute later and crawled up onto the balcony.

She looked a little frazzled and he saw the surprise flash upon her face once she spotted him.

"Chat Noir," she spoke, a little more high-pitched than usual. "What are you doing here?"

Suddenly her expression hardened for a second and she jumped to stand up, her eyes flittering around.

"Is there an Akuma?" she asked, seeing nothing alarming and finally settling her eyes on the somewhat sheepish-looking superhero.

"No, just me," he admitted. "Sorry for worrying you."

"Oh," she sighed in relief, her posture relaxing and a grin spreading across her lips. "Then to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"

The switch between serious and fearless to casual and amused jarred him a little bit. 

For some reason, a small voice in the back of his mind compared her to Ladybug.

Shaking his head of that strange (but intriguing) thought, he grinned.

"Can't a stray cat visit his favourite civilian?" he quipped.

Marinette rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

"Shouldn't you save the flirting for Ladybug?" she sassed.

"Is that what you call flirting? I'm merely stating the truth," Chat replied with a wink.

"Mhm," she hummed, clearly not believing it. "So what's the real reason for your visit?"

"Well," he paused, suddenly feeling a bit shy and silly requesting her help. He rubbed his neck, but soldiered on, "I need your advice for growing roses."

Marinette raised an eyebrow.

"You see, I have to grow roses."

Marinette frowned at his vague explanation.

"Okay... Do you often grow plants?" she asked.

"No. This is the first time I've ever planted something," he admitted.

Marinette nearly facepalmed. He could have picked an easier plant to grow, considering it was his first time.

"Maybe you should start with something easier," she suggested. "Like, marigolds for example. Or something you can eat, such as basil."

Chat pouted at her suggestions.

"But I want to grow roses," he replied, almost childishly.

Marinette observed him for a moment.

"Why?" she finally asked, curious about his stubbornness.

Chat Noir blushed. Even with the mask and the setting of the sun, she could see the red tinge peeking out from him mask.

Marinette unwillingly felt her face warm in response. Surely, he wasn't growing them for...

"I want to grow them so I can give them to Ladybug," he confessed.

He was.

Marinette looked down for a second to gather her thoughts. No, it was not extremely cute and sweet that he was determined to grow them for her.

Not at all.

Nope.

Nuh-uh.

Okay, _well_ , maybe a little bit.

Looking back up, she nodded at him.

"Alright, I'll help you."

A beam spread across Chat's face as he enveloped Marinette in a very enthusiastic hug that was a little too strong to be comfortable.

"I can't— _breathe_!" she wheezed.

"Oops, sorry," he chuckled as he let go.

Putting her hand to her chest as she as inhaled sweet, sweet oxygen, she looked up again to see the adoring and appreciative smile he was still wearing.

Since when was he so cute?

She hoped she wouldn't regret agreeing to helping him.

And, thus, they began their rose-growing lessons.

* * *

"That's too much water! You're going to drown them!" Marinette practically yelled as Chat watered the soil.

* * *

"I know I said not to overwater, but I didn't say stop watering altogether..."

* * *

"You've been keeping it in your room? In the shade? The whole time?!" Marinette asked exasperatedly. Chat's ears flattened as he gave her guilty kitten eyes.

* * *

"Why does it smell like cheese?"

* * *

Looking at the lack of rose sprouts that he had brought to her, as he did each time he visited, Marinette sighed resignatedly.

"Here, let's keep the roses on my balcony. Clearly, they're not in a good environment at your place," she commented. "But that doesn't mean I'll do the work for you. You'll just have to visit every time you need to water them."

"I can do that," Chat said sheepishly. "Thanks, Marinette."

* * *

With the frequent visits to Marinette's balcony, Chat found that the flowers were not the only things growing.

Feelings of friendship and camaraderie grew and grew, as another less expected feeling had been planted.

He tried his best to suppress it, as did she, but against their better judgment, feelings of love had begun to sprout. 

Not that either of them would ever willingly admit it. They both had crushes on other people. This love—if you could even call it that—was but a fleeting emotion. It was only because they were growing a plant together, so they were basically proud parents of a rose bush.

That's all it really was.

Right?

Well, at least, that's what they tried to convince themselves of.

* * *

Finally, the roses had bloomed beautifully.

Adrien had taken videos and photographs of the growing process for the assignment, as well as documenting the challenges he had faced. And today, with still time to spare before the due date, he was able to proudly hand in all of the work he had done on it to Mme Mendeleiev.

He wished he could thank Marinette in class for all her help, but he knew he had to wait until the evening, when he could sneak out of his house and drop in on her balcony.

Marinette had seen Adrien hand in his project. She was secretly curious about what he had grown but decided against asking. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she felt like asking him would be a bad idea.

Chat had just finished his growing his roses last night as well.

It seemed like too much of a coincidence and Marinette was scared that she might find out something she wasn't supposed to.

So she held her tongue and continued her day as if she had no interest in Adrien's project.

* * *

That night at patrol, Chat seemed a little bit strange and had a hand hiding behind his back.

Ladybug had a feeling she knew why.

"My Lady," he said with an odd smile as he stood before her on a rooftop. "I have something for you."

With a flourish, he withdrew his hand from behind his back. And in his grasp, a stunning single yellow rose was displayed before her.

Despite expecting a flower, Ladybug was shocked. For some reason, she had expected more than one. And moreso than that, she had expected it to be red since those were the colour roses he had grown.

Also, didn't yellow symbolize friendship?

"Thank you, kitty," she responded, accepting the rose.

"You're welcome, bug," was all he said in response.

Surprisingly, nothing else was said after that and patrol carried on as usual, leaving a rather confused Ladybug.

* * *

After patrol, Marinette was on her balcony, looking at all her plants. Chat Noir had taken his rose bush with him last night, leaving an empty and somewhat lonely space behind.

As she reminisced over the rose bush they had grown together, she was pleasantly surprised when Chat Noir landed near her on her balcony.

Like earlier, one of his hands was hidden behind his back.

However, his expression appeared more nervous than it did earlier when he was with Ladybug.

Hesitantly, Chat stepped towards Marinette. She gave him an encouraging smile, which caused his heart to flutter.

Slowly, he removed his hand from behind his back to reveal what he had been hiding.

Half a dozen red roses were laid before her eyes.

Marinette's eyes widened at the possible implication.

Chat Noir had given Ladybug one yellow rose, meanwhile he was giving Marinette six red roses.

Speechless, Marinette gingerly accepted the bouquet, bringing them to her nose to inhale their lovely scent.

Suddenly filled with butterflies in her stomach, her eyes finally fluttered up to look at his.

There she found heart-melting expression, one filled with love, but also a hint of apprehension and fear.

"I—I don't know what to say," she finally managed to say once she had found her voice. "I thought these were meant for Ladybug?"

Chat swallowed, bringing his hand up to rub the back of his neck nervously.

"They were," he finally answered. "But as you helped me grow these roses, I came to realize that you had also planted some seeds."

Marinette just stared at him in curious confusion, waiting for further clarification.

"The seeds of love in my heart," he replied to her unspoken question, placing a hand over his chest where his heart lay.

Marinette snorted. Her free hand flew to her nose at her unintentional reaction.

Tears pricked at her eyes, as she began to laugh.

Chat looked confused and slightly hurt.

"I'm— _haha_ —sorry," she said as she tried to calm herself down. "What you said, it was just too... _very_ cheesy."

Chat wasn't sure yet if that was a good thing or not, but a silly grin fell onto his face.

"Well... what do you think?" he asked, the suspense killing him.

"About the flowers? They're beautiful!" she gushed, teasing him by purposely misunderstanding his question.

"No! About the seeds."

Marinette grinned, both happy and enjoying teasing him.

"You mean the seeds of _looove_?" she drawled.

To her delight, he blushed. She had to admit that she gained great pleasure from causing him embarrassment.

"Yes, those."

Marinette put a hand to her chin as if in deep thought. She enjoyed dragging this out. But she supposed she shouldn't make him suffer too much.

"I think I'm very flattered... and I think you planted some seeds in my heart too..." she answered, trailing off. She gently placed the roses on the table to hold both hands over her heart.

"But...?" He gulped, worried to hear the rest.

"But they are only seeds right now. You'll have to water them and give them plenty of sunshine if you want them to grow." She smiled sweetly at him.

Chat's face completely lit up at that.

"Oh, there will definitely be plenty of sunshine and water," he promised, pulling her into an embrace, one much less bone-crushing than the last one he gave her.

She returned the embrace, her arms winding around his back, her heart full and ready for a new love.

They both looked forward to the seeds in their hearts sprouting and flowering one day.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!!
> 
> I'm always so flattered by the kind words in the comments. They seriously make my day. I promise to respond when I have more time.
> 
> (Oh and if anyone reading this reads Phone Call History, I won't be updating that fic until after the Love Square Fluff Week is over, sorry!)


End file.
